Ultimate Demon Sword

Chapter 35 Stealing the show?

For this upcoming AFC Champions League matchup, the entire Asian football world pays close attention to it.Not only the Chinese media, but also the Japanese and Korean media in East Asia have also made suggestions for Evergrande.In the eyes of the Japanese and Korean media, this duel between the strongest teams in East and West Asia is about the "honor of East Asian football". All the AFC champions in the past five years have been won by East Asian teams. The Japanese and Korean media hope that Evergrande can defend this honor.

Evergrande's opponent in the final is Dubai Al Ahli Club from the United Arab Emirates.The champion of the UAE Super League last season eliminated many strong players in West Asia, and reached the AFC final for the first time in team history. The desire for the championship is self-evident.Even the UAE royal family expressed great concern for this final.

Compared with the cautiousness and excitement of the opponent, Evergrande seemed relaxed.Coach Scolari even gave the team a short two-day holiday.However, for Wen Zhihao who has no place to go in Guangzhou, it is obviously better to carry out additional training at the base to enrich himself.

After the Brazilian international Paulinho came to the team in the second half of the league, Wen Zhihao quickly established a good relationship with him, and asked Paulinho for some midfield defensive skills from time to time.After all, the man in front of him is the master who locked the Spanish fantasy midfielder led by Harvey and Iniesta into invisible in the 2013 Confederations Cup final.

From the first day he joined the team, Paulinho was deeply amazed by Wen Zhihao's talent, and even called Wen Zhihao "China's Neymar" in private.For this talented young junior to humbly ask him for advice, Paulinho will naturally not hide his secrets.Of course, with the guidance of this kind of midfield defensive master, Wen Zhihao's improvement on the defensive end is predictable.

On the first day of the holiday, when Wen Zhihao came to the gate of the training base, Paulinho was already there waiting for him.Seeing Wen Zhihao, Paulinho immediately walked over and hammered Wen Zhihao's chest, half-jokingly said: "Hey, you kid is really boring, take a good vacation and let the uncle come to accompany you to practice more, you interrupted me to pick up girls! You have to make it up to me!"

Wen Zhihao rolled his eyes at him, and said smoothly, "Hehe, Jose, what's the matter, why don't I invite you to go to a dragon when the work is over?"

"Really? Hey, that's what you said!" Paulinho actually climbed up the pole unceremoniously.

Wen Zhihao also saw the thick skin of this guy, and immediately said seriously: "Tell me about your size! Hurry up and get down to business, do you believe that I won't pass the ball to you in the final?"

Paulinho didn't dare to say more immediately.The man in front of him is the core of the team's midfielder, the brain of the offensive organization, and who to pass the ball to depends entirely on the mood of others.If you really let yourself run on the court for 10 minutes, it would be really hard.

According to Paulinho, Wen Zhihao's defensive ability has already graduated, but Wen Zhihao is not satisfied, he wants to learn the unique skill of "violent bird": super long-distance positioning ball blasting the goal.

But Paulinho did not suggest that Wen Zhihao learn from it.He said that Wen Zhihao is still young, and the muscle density and explosive power of his legs are not enough to support the intensity of shooting from a distance of more than 35 meters.Wen Zhihao does not believe in evil, and after watching Paulinho's demonstration a few times, he wants to try it.Naihe tried several times without exception and all hit the plane.Wen Zhihao shook his head helplessly, it seems that it really can't be done, and he should not use this trick unless it is absolutely necessary.

Four days before the start of the final, the Evergrande team rushed to Dubai on the special plane of owner Xu Jiayin to prepare for the away trip to the first round of the final.This is the special treatment given to Evergrande in every major competition. Wen Zhihao couldn't help but lament that he really is a wealthy family with deep pockets. Even the top clubs participating in the Champions League final probably don't have this treatment, and he felt a little more confident.

For such a major intercontinental final, the madness of the Chinese media can often shock the world.Domestic TV, Internet and paper media have dispatched a huge reporting team with a total of nearly 200 people to follow up and report on Evergrande. Various media have made predictions for the final and expressed optimism about Evergrande’s prospects.After all, the background of the AFC champion is not comparable to that of the opponent.

At the same time, the official website of the AFC also made an outlook.This AFC Champions League final is defined as a "Gemini Showdown".The reason is that the former Brazilian Cruzeiro twin stars Goulart and Ribeiro will compete as opponents for the first time. The AFC believes that this group of duels will be the highlight of the final.

Domestic fans are very dissatisfied with the AFC's selective neglect of Wen Zhihao who is about to be crowned as the Golden Boot. Tens of thousands of fans sent encouragement through Wen Zhihao's Weibo. As Wen Zhihao's performance continued to shine, his Weibo fans soared to 200 million.There are also countless fans leaving messages to be Wen Zhihao's girlfriend and give birth to monkeys for him.Wen Zhihao chose not to care about this and just laughed it off.Only victories and titles can keep him motivated right now.Let's talk about the others later.

……

"CCTV! CCTV! Audience friends, you are watching the first round of the 2015 Asian Football Club Champions League Final..." With He Wei's formatted CCTV opening remarks, the first round of the final officially kicked off at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai.

Scolari continued to use the fixed starter in this game.The national goalkeeper Zeng Cheng continued to guard the front of the goal. Due to the suspension of South Korean central defender Kim Young-kwon, four international players Feng Xiaoting, Mei Fang, Zhang Linpeng, and Li Xuepeng were in the defense. The midfielder's double defensive midfielder Zheng Zhi partnered with Paulinho, Goulart and Wen Zhihao.

Dubai Al Ahly, who was playing at home, took the initiative to shrink his formation and fight back. However, the opponent's defense was extremely aggressive, and Evergrande players turned their backs on their backs many times in the frontcourt.

Wen Zhihao knew that the opponent was going to adopt hooligan tactics again, and his teammates lacked confidence in holding the ball under this kind of defense.After experiencing this kind of scene many times, Wen Zhihao resolutely chose to make a personal breakthrough and open up the situation with points and faces.

After making a decision, Wen Zhihao didn't hesitate any longer. Facing the opponent's lower back body crushing, Wen Zhihao lowered his center of gravity in a half-squat posture, with his arms stretched out in front of the opponent. The Ahli player saw that he was entangled with Wen Zhihao, and stretched out his long legs to tackle the ball.Wen Zhihao felt the change in the strength of the opponent's body, and turned his back to the opponent's right foot to lightly flick the ball. Player Ahli only felt a black and white mass flash past his eyes, and his chest was hit inexplicably, and the yellow figure in front of him suddenly disappeared.

His heart suddenly tightened, and he hurriedly turned his head to look at his own half.

After getting rid of it, Wen Zhihao brought the ball forward a few meters. Seeing that no teammate was plugging in, Elkeson on the front line was pressed close by the opponent's defender Adimar. He simply swung his calf forcefully, and the outside of the arch of his right foot slammed along the middle and lower part of the football. The ball flew towards the goal with an imperceptible arc.Just when the Evergrande players were about to celebrate, the ball rubbed against the left post and hit the billboard behind the goal.

The fans of the home team at the scene were full of exclamation, Wen Zhihao covered his head with a wry smile, his face was full of disbelief, the feedback of the ball was very good, why didn't he score?

He Wei, who was on the commentary table, was full of regret: "Oh! What a pity! Wen Zhihao's beautiful dribble dribbled past others, and a very threatening long-range shot, which was only a hair's breadth away from the goal!"

Then He Wei joked again in a light tone: "Before the match, the official website of the AFC believed that the matchup between the former Cruzeiro twin stars was the focus of the final. Is Wen Zhihao's series of performances just a blatant stealing of the show?"

The fans who stayed up late watching the football in front of the TV laughed in unison upon hearing this.

Stealing the show?

Who is the protagonist in this year's AFC Champions League?

(End of this chapter)